


silver lining

by qeusava



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bisexual Disaster Mike Wheeler, Diner! AU, Fluff and Angst, Gay Will Byers, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Minor Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Minor Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Period-Typical Homophobia, byler, lonnie is a piece of shit wbk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:34:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24342871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qeusava/pseuds/qeusava
Summary: He thinks of how in only a short period of time he’s managed to lose both his girlfriend and his pride.Then he thinks about Will, and he sees the silver lining.
Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	silver lining

_June 5th, 1987_

Will tries to focus, he really does, but he can't stop himself from staring at the group of teens across the room. Two boys are on one side of the booth, a boy and a girl on the other. The two boys are talking, grinning and laughing. The boy across from them has an arm around the girl's shoulder, both of them smiling at the other two.

Will recognizes them— he's seen them around school. However, he can only place a name to the boy with ebony skin. Lucas Sinclair, one of the best basketball players Hawkins High has ever seen. At least, he assumes he is. Will never attends any of the games, but he doesn't miss the way people talk about Lucas like he's a god. They treat him with so much respect, but Will can't really give an honest opinion, as he's never even seen him play. He doesn't really want to, either. He's never been interested in sports. Especially not when it means seeing Troy outside of school, when he truly prefers not to see him at all.

Will forces himself to wipe the counter absentmindedly, his gaze drifting from one member of the group to the next. He looks at the boy with curly hair next, seeing him say something to which Lucas laughs to.

He then looks to the girl. She's pretty, no question about that. He likes her hair the most, he thinks. It's cut bluntly just above her shoulders. It suits her.

His eyes move to the boy who's arm is draped over her. He's talking loudly now, but Will can't really seem to focus on what he's saying. _He needs a haircut_ , Will thinks.

Will realizes with a jolt that no one has taken their order. He looks over at Benny, and then sighs at the Help Wanted sign he can see through the window. It's moments like these when Will really, really hates his job.

Will grabs a notepad, sighing as he walks around and counter and towards them. He's not really sure what to expect. He recalls the way they entered obnoxiously, the bell dinging and them laughing and shoving and borderline-yelling. It was enough to snap Will of the fatigue he was experiencing only moments before, the lively and bubbly sounds of the teenagers a huge contrast from the usually quiet, quaint little diner.

They look up as he approaches, smiles never faltering. “Welcome to Benny's Diner.” Will forces a smile. “What can I get you guys to drink today?”

Lucas and the curly-haired boy give their orders (Will has to refrain from laughing when Lucas says he wants nothing, resulting in the curly-haired boy teasing him about a protein shake or something. Lucas groans that he “needs to bulk up”).

“It's _summer_ ,” the other boy retorts, rolling his eyes. “Basketball season doesn't start for like six months.”

_"Five_ months,” Lucas corrects. “And I still have to prepare. And it's almost my senior year. My dad says I have to go out with a bang.”

"Keep listening to Daddy and pretty soon you'll look like a bodybuilder."

Lucas grins. "Would that really be a bad thing?"

"Ugh, _yes_ ," the girl chimes in. "Bodybuilders look disgusting."

Will laughs, thinking about how much he agrees. It's something he and Jonathan used to make fun of often. Jonathan would put pillows underneath his shirt and pretend to flex to make Will laugh. Thinking back at it, it wasn't the funniest thing, but the memory still makes Will smile.

Will wipes the smile off his face upon noticing that they're all looking at him.

"It's okay, you can laugh," the boy with black hair says to him. He looks up at Will with a smirk, then cuts his eyes across the table at the two boys. "It's hard not to when they act like such idiots all the time."

Will smiles, huffing out a breath of air that he knows will pass as a laugh, even though it's mostly a breath of relief. The boys throw their hands up in protest, but the black-haired boy ignores them.

"I'm Mike," the boy says again. He unwraps his arm from around the girl and reaches out to shake his hand.

Will meets it, thinking that it's a little weird that he likes to shake hands, not that he minds it. "Will," he says.

Looking at him now, up close, he can see there's a lot that he missed from far away. His eyes are dark, almost as dark as his hair. There's freckles all over his face. Will has always liked freckles.

"I'm Dustin!" the curly-haired boy says abruptly, and Will has to force himself to rip his gaze away from Mike's dark eyes. Dustin doesn't offer his hand, but he instead gives Will a salute-like wave.

"Lucas Sinclair," Lucas says, and Will doesn't bother telling him that he already knows.

Will glances at the girl, who's eyes glance down at her lap before they rise back up. "I'm El," she says, smiling up at him politely.

"Hi," he responds.

"Anyway," Mike says cheerfully. "I'd like a coke."

Will scribbles it down, and does the same when El quietly tells him she wants water. He turns around to walk back to the counter, and is more than pleased to see Max sitting down at the counter.

She smiles smugly at him — jokingly, of course, — and asks, "Happy to see me?"

"You have no idea," Will sighs in relief. He cuts around the bar and instantly begins getting the drinks ready. "Is it too late to quit?"

"Usually, I'd say yes," Max mutters, glancing behind her at their table, "but I know _that_ must have taken a toll on you, so no, it's not too late."

Will laughs. "I guess it wasn't too bad."

"You _just_ said you wanted to quit because of it." Max rolls her eyes. "Besides, there's no way talking to Lucas Sinclair could possibly qualify as a pleasant experience."

Will shrugs. "He was okay."

"Please," Max snorts. "He has got to be the most arrogant person I've ever met. Excluding Troy," she adds quickly, grabbing the salt shaker and pouring some into her hand. She throws some into her mouth, something Will has seen her do a million times.

"Haven't you talked to him like one time?"

"Sadly, no. In May he kept coming up to me at school and tried to like, have a conversation with me." She shuddered. "I mean, I'm assuming that's what he was going for. All he did was talk about winning state for basketball or something. I told you all of this, by the way. Don't you remember?"

Now that she's mentioned it, he does remember. "Well, maybe he's changed." Will asks, stacking each drink onto a tray. He pauses, not exactly ready to leave Max's side just yet.

"In three weeks? Somehow I doubt that."

"Don't you think that may be a _tad_ judgmental?"

Max shrugs. "Maybe. But if it keeps me from conversing people like that, then so be it."

Will smiles. He thinks about it, and he remembers the things he's heard about Lucas and his friends. None of the things are good, but then again, they may not be true. Will is well aware of how far rumors can go, and how they can change the way someone sees a person.

"I'm going back in," he finally says.

Max throws a "good luck" at him over her shoulder.

He carries the tray over to them and sets each drink in their respectful places. El is the only one that says thanks, because the others are too distracted.

"Um, Will?" Mike says. "I think my friend here has a question to ask." He holds his hands out towards Lucas, who is glancing over Will's shoulder.

"That's Max Mayfield, isn't it?" Lucas asks. "Is she your friend?"

Will glances back at Max. "Uh, yeah."

Lucas stares at her for a few moments before finally nodding. "Cool," he murmurs, even though he doesn't look like he's asked all he wants to ask.

Mike snorts, but doesn't say anything. Dustin on the other hand, laughs at him loudly and says, "Not so cool now, are you?"

"Shut up, asshole."

Will catches on pretty quickly. He looks at Lucas, who takes an angry sip of his protein shake (where he got the cup, Will has no idea), and doesn't look up from the tabletop. He knows what it looks like when someone has a thing for Max, he's seen it plenty of times, even if he's never had one for her himself. Or for any girl, for that matter.

"I can tell her you said hi, if you want," Will offers.

Lucas looks up at him with large eyes, nodding at him. "Yeah, sure. Sure. Thanks."

Will nods at him, smiling. It's kind of sad, he thinks, that he's clearly interested in Max when she was just talking about his arrogance mere minutes ago. He glances over and sees Mike looking at him, but looks away just as quickly. He can already feel his face beginning to burn.

He clears his throat. "Are you guys ready to order?"

He takes their ordes, delivers it to Benny in the kitchen, and walks back over to Max. He sighs, his elbows resting on the table and his face resting in his palms. She looks up at him, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

"Lucas says hi," Will smiles.

"What?" Max asks incredulously. "Why doesn't he just tell me himself?"

"Shy?" Will guesses.

"Lucas Sinclair isn’t shy," Max insists.

"Intimidated, then. You're pretty scary."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Max smiles. "When do you get off?"

"Around seven."

"Is it okay if I spend the night with you?"

"You don't even have to ask at this point," Will says. "Even if I don't want you there, you know my mom will."

Max grins. "True."

Max eventually leaves, telling Will that she'll see him later, leaving Will to pretend not to be staring at the table across the room. He's both happy and sad when he sees them get up to leave, but he sees Mike start walking up towards the register, and Will realizes he has a job to do.

Once Mike has paid, Will hands him his change and tells him to have a good day.

"Do you have to say that to everyone?" Mike asks.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, but it's—"

"Sounds tiring," he says, before turning around and walking away. He's pushing open the door when he calls out, "See you later," and he's gone before Will has the chance to respond.

Will watches as he hops into the back seat of a car, and they all drive away.

::


End file.
